GroupWise Upgrade Provides More Stability,
Enhancement of Features

By Greg RienziThe Gazette

The Desktop Computing Services Department of Hopkins NTS, in
coordination with a variety of other information technology
staff, has recently completed an exhaustive 10-month effort
to upgrade the university's GroupWise system.

GroupWise is a nearly 10-year-old integrated messaging
system that enables users to consolidate and manage
information, including e-mail, address books, calendars,
documents, notes and tasks into a single "mailbox." In
function, it works much the same way as the new Johns
Hopkins Enterprise Messaging System, both of which can be
accessed from off-campus locations. Currently, GroupWise is
used by more than 15,000 people throughout the Hopkins
institutions, primarily those on the East Baltimore campus.

Steven Sears, director of Desktop Computing Services
and project manager, said that the system now has
significantly enhanced Web access and security, and it can
support people who use personal digital assistants.

"But the most important thing is that GroupWise has
become more reliable and stable than ever before," said
Sears, who added that the system can currently boast a 99.9
percent level of availability. "In addition, we now have the
luxury of telling our users that we can support the software
to the full extent of its features."

One notable system enhancement, according to Sears, is
the increased reliability of the document management feature
that allows users to store, sort and share files. It also
will be easier to store large files on the system.

Sears said in the near future GroupWise will become
more integrated with JHEM and another feature will be added,
instant messaging.

"As compared to what AOL users are accustomed to,
however, ours will be more of a business-class instant
messaging system, like a professional Hopkins chat room,"
Sears said. "What we are presently looking into is how we
would manage instant messaging in a secure fashion."

Sears said he expects "another round of system
upgrades" to begin in roughly six months.